Chennai, November 15: Tamil Nadu Government today refuted reports that over 500 fishermen from the state, who had gone for deep sea fishing off Maharashtra and Gujarat, were missing but it admitted that 16 boats were still untraced and 11 damaged after the ‘Phyan’ cyclone, which recently hit the two states.
As per the official information, only 11 boats were damaged and eight fishermen “disappeared” in the cyclone, the government said in a clarification adding that search operations using helicopters and coastal guards were on to trace them.
It said after a thorough verification and investigation with officials and the people of Kanyakumari District, to which the fishermen belonged, it was found that fishermen ventured into the sea in 327 boats from eight villages.
Of them, those in 300 boats were safe and a search operation was on to trace the remaining 16 boats.
–Agencies